‘Inscribed Upon Their Hearts’: Copying and the Dissemination of Devotion

Abstract

The close friendship shared by Vittoria Colonna and Michelangelo inspired the production of intimate gifts in the form of sonnets and presentation drawings. These works exercised a considerable fascination over their contemporaries, who sought to obtain copies of the poems and drawings in a variety of different media. Both individually crafted and mass produced, these copies possessed multiple valences for different audiences, revealing the ways in which the relationship between original and copy, function and medium, collecting and devotion intersected in the Cinquecento. This chapter explores the ways in which sonnets and drawings were appropriated by broader audiences, focusing especially on the translation of Michelangelo’s Pietà drawing into bronze paxes created for popular, liturgical use.